Misfit Flash

Discovered: Tracking Your Workouts Is Now Officially Affordable

One of the biggest hurdles facing all of these fitness wearables is that many of them are too expensive. You’re not sure that we want or need them, but the price tag demands a commitment. That’s not the case with Misfit Flash, which comes in at the reasonable $49.

Misfit had already had a hit with the sexy-looking Shine tracker, which came out in 2013. It’ll continue to sell at $99, but the Flash, announced on Tuesday, is going to be roughly half the cost. That’s because the company found a way to make it with lower-cost materials. The main change is that aluminum was swapped out for plastic. There are some other minor tweaks, like how waterproof it is (up to 100 feet), but for the most part, you get the same usability and experience as the Shine.

If you're not familiar with the Shine, the Flash will similarly keep track of your steps taken, calories, sleep quality, swimming and cycling. It also has the same ring of tiny LEDs around the circumference of the device that keeps you apprised of your progress each day. You sync the device with an app either in Android or iOS, and then input your goals there.

With the release of Apple’s new smart watch and a lot of other brands entering the wrist game, there’s plenty of pressure on these fitness trackers to be more competitive. Selling for three figures or more is likely enough of a turnoff for consumers, since they can spend a bit more and should eventually have a far more intuitive, capable device on their wrist. Fitness wearables are typically more durable because they're meant to be worn during activities, but they're limited in what they can do compared to the smartwatches. Eventually, they’ll be cut out of the market — or at least cut down to size quite significantly.

So that’s one reason why Flash is entering at a much more sensible price: It needs to compete in some way. Flash will also have competition from other fitness trackers like the Fitbug Orb and Fitbit Zip. They are both in the same price point neighborhood. However, the Flash easily wins in terms of style. That’s one of the main reasons that the Shine was so successful and the Flash builds on that. Since the Shine was made of aluminum, you could only customize the color of the main face. But since the Flash is plastic, you can get it in seven different colors: frost, onyx, red, wave, teal, fuchsia and zest — and you can get matching bands since it’s easier to custom color the plastic. There’s no question that from a style perspective, these really stand out.

If you’ve been waiting on the sidelines to get a fitness tracker, the Flash is a pretty good option for only $49. At the very least, it’ll bridge the gap from now until the smart watches are ready to take over your fitness tracking.